I ride 10 miles/16km to work and on my first time out I took it off after 3 miles/5km because it was restricting my breathing too much. At home I cut a hole for the mouth and stitched up the edges to make it stronger and that made all the difference! I've ridden in 20°F/-7°C and my face and ears were mercifully warm even though the fabric itself is quite thin which also means the helmet fits normally.

Given that this site is for cyclists, it stands to reason that the likely purchaser is keen enough to cycle into the winter and keen cyclists go reasonably fast and therefore need to breathe a lot so I think they should come with a hole for the mouth by default. The hole also reduced but did not eliminate the problem of my glasses fogging up. Overall a great purchase.

Just after receiving the great snowpocalyps of '16 hit. The balaclava is more comfortable than i anticipated, but honestly doesn't keep my ears and head as warm as the caps I would normally wear under my helmet. The face coverage is nice, it fits easily under a helmet and worked well with glasses.